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![handle is hein.sag/sagwi0004 and id is 1 raw text is: STATE OF WISCONSIN
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
J.B. VAN HOLLEN 114 East, State Capitol
ATTORNEY GENERAL P.O. Box 7857
Madison, WI 53707-7857
Raymond P. Taffora
Deputy Attorney General
June 8, 2007 OAG- 1-07
Mr. David A. Bretl
Walworth County
Corporation Counsel
Post Office Box 1001
Elkhorn, WI 53121-1001
Dear Mr. Bretl:
You ask whether the chairperson of a county board may be removed from that position
only for cause by a two-thirds vote of the board under Wis. Stat. § 17.10 (2005-06), or whether
the chairperson may be removed at the will of a simple majority of the board under Wis. Stat.
§ 59.12 (2005-06). I have concluded that the less demanding procedures of Wis. Stat. § 59.12
apply to the removal of the chairperson from that position on the county board.
Wisconsin Stat. § 17.10(2) provides that [c]ounty officers appointed by the county board
may be removed by the county board for cause. All removals may be made by an affirmative
vote of two-thirds of the supervisors entitled to seats on the county board.
This section does not apply to the removal of the chairperson of a county board for two
reasons. First, the chairperson of a county board is not a county officer by virtue of that position.
Second, the chairperson of a county board is not appointed by the board.
Wisconsin Stat. § 17.10(2) applies only to persons who are removed from a position that
makes them a county officer or, arguably in some cases, a county employee.
All members of a county board are county officers. Wis. Stat. § 59.10(3)(d) (2005-06).
As a member of the county board, Wis. Stat. § 59.12(1), the chairperson of the board is a county
officer by virtue of his or her membership on the board.
However, ending the tenure of a member of the county board as chair of the board does
not oust that member from the board but only from a particular position on the board. The
member loses the chair but not their seat on the board. So Wis. Stat. § 17.10(2) would apply to
the removal of the chairperson of a county board only if the chairperson was a county officer,
separately and distinctly from being a member of the board, solely by virtue of being the
chairperson of the board.
The Legislature has expressly identified the principal officers of a county, in addition to
members of the county board, in Wis. Stat. ch. 59. However, the chairperson of a county board](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.sag/sagwi0004&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)